4 Marines Killed in Crash Were Gulf War Vets : Military: ‘Huey’ helicopter broke up before exploding in an alfalfa field near the Salton Sea, witnesses say.

The four Camp Pendleton Marines killed when their UH-1 “Huey” helicopter apparently broke apart and crashed near the Salton Sea during a training flight were identified Thursday as veterans of the Persian Gulf War.

Officials at the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro identified the dead Marines as Master Sgt. Joe C. Snell Jr., 41, of Oceanside; Capt. Daniel J. Adams, 30, of Brick Ocean, N.J.; Capt. Phillip G. Chapman, 30, from Ft. Lewis Pierce, Wash.; and Corp. Jeffrey D. Couch, 22, of Niceville, Fla.

An El Toro statement said the Marines, attached to the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, crashed Wednesday 3 miles east of Calpatria, which is southeast of the Salton Sea, during training.

Although the helicopter and the Marines were stationed at Camp Pendleton, the squadron is attached to the El Toro-based 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

The accident remains under investigation. Although little information has been released, witnesses told the Associated Press on Thursday that the helicopter broke up before exploding in an alfalfa field.

“They were flying around, and we were looking at them. The back of the helicopter broke, and it started leaning sideways,” said Danny Estrada, 8, who was playing outside his home when the helicopter plummeted at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Margery Watte, who lives nearby, said, “I was getting ready to go out, and I heard, it was like a pop. The doors and things in the house rattled.” She observed a second helicopter land and said a Marine sprang out, looking for a telephone to report the crash to 911.

The accident site, with several piles of wreckage and debris strewn across the field, remained off-limits Thursday. The helicopter’s activities and destination have not been released.

Meanwhile, Marine officials revealed the crew members’ names after notifying their families of the crash.

The crew chief, Master Sgt. Snell, was remembered Thursday by his brother, Rick Snell, also a Marine master sergeant who serves with an El Toro-based helicopter unit.

“Joe was professional all the way. Straightforward, easygoing, easy to love. People liked him,” said Snell, who saw his brother when both were serving in the Gulf War. Joe Snell was in the war zone for six or seven months before returning home June 29.

“We come from a family of Marines,” said Snell. “It’s a job we volunteered to do . . . the pride that no one can understand unless they’ve been there.”

He described his brother, a Marine for 21 years who also served in Vietnam, as a dedicated family man with only one outside interest. “The only other thing he loved to do, he used to have a band. He was a country Western singer.”

Snell, originally from Mars Hill, Me., is also survived by his mother, Virginia Snell of Fallbrook; his wife, Dorothy; and daughters Corinne, 9, and Shannon, 6. Funeral arrangements for Snell and the three other crew members are pending, according to Marine officials.

The pilot, Capt. Adams, is survived by his wife, Susan, and a 6-month-old daughter, Jacqueline. Capt. Chapman, the co-pilot, leaves his wife, Theresa, and son, Sean, 3. Corp. Couth is survived by his parents, Raymond and Beverly Couch.

An El Toro spokesman said all four Marines had served both in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield.